In the garden - now with video

This is a short and simple track, originally a test for a videogame, that finally was not used

very peaceful, with harp, clarinets, strings and some other instrument as support.

the main driving idea was to use a two note ostinato in the harp (F-G) and then modulate the main theme (starting from C major, then moving to Ab major, F major, again Ab and looping). my basic composition skill told me to use F,G as 4th, 5h of the C major scale, then as 6th and 7h of the Ab and tonic and 2nd of the F scale.
after the main sketch, in which the ostinato was present in all the track, i removed it during the Ab sections and varied a little bid in the F section. also, i added some additional theme with the clarinets in the Ab section, with the main one in backgroud
(too much words, i know!)

Edit:
I'm finally able to "show"the music along the vidoe that inspired it!
there were a little changes to adapt to the visuals, but the structure is the same...

Coming from pop music, I'm a new bee to composing for media. But I do feel music. This particular peace wasn't for me. I think its too static, it doesn't move (me)... My advice would be to learn how to add a lot more emotion into your play and into your tracks...

Avoid writing passages with repeating notes or chords for the harp at a fast tempo except if you notate them enharmonically on two different strings (for example B and Cb) because it is technically difficult to be executed. At this tempo, I think it is still possible for the harpist to play the chords, but it will be awkward. A mallet percussion instrument would have been a better choice in your piece in my opinion (a marimba would have been ideal). The harp is a very tricky instrument to write music for that can be performed. It has many extended techniques and the seven pedals make everything even more complicated.

Avoid writing passages with repeating notes or chords for the harp at a fast tempo except if you notate them enharmonically on two different strings (for example B and Cb) because it is technically difficult to be executed. At this tempo, I think it is still possible for the harpist to play the chords, but it will be awkward. A mallet percussion instrument would have been a better choice in your piece in my opinion (a marimba would have been ideal). The harp is a very tricky instrument to write music for that can be performed. It has many extended techniques and the seven pedals make everything even more complicated.

Click to expand...

Thansk for pointing up this!
Actually I never studied how a player should (or can!) play the music I write! I'm moslmo an hobbyist, I studied a little of composition but nothing more... I use samples and i I don't think my music will be ever performed live... Does it sound fake to trained ears? It's possible!

Regarding the "emotions": I understand your comment. This price was supposed to be used as a background music for a videogame, so it would stay in the background. Although I felt some emotions in it I accept that you don't!

It sounds uncharacteristic for the harp. In general harpists arpeggiate every notated chord except when the composer explicitly states otherwise, usually by adding a bracket next to the chord or just putting a note. Double stops are still played as a "chord", but still you won't easily find them the way you used them. In an orchestral setting you could see the harp doubling the flutes for example with double stops and played as harmonics.

Even if you never intend to have your compositions performed, it will help you tremendously to acquire some basic knowledge of instrumentation.

You can have a single repeating note for the harp, and the player could play it very fast even. And I think this can extend to multiple notes at once even, if they are close. So it's possible on the harp to do something like this.

I'm not a harp player, but I think these are called bisbigliando (basically trills of a sort). Most harp libraries don't allow you to play a proper bisbigliando though, as I understand things, due to not having sampled the strings with the pedals on like you would probably need to do on a real harp.

But it seems to me like a harp player wouldn't play this piece like you've rendered it here. Listen to this for example:

I know this is a slightly different example, but it gives you an idea of the what the player would actually do. (In your head, just slow it down a fair bit). So you could maybe modify your piece using these techniques to get it to sound less static.

The thing becomes problematic when you have repeated chords. In Samuel Adler's book there is specifically a section that talks about chords and even has an excerpt from a Bartok's score where the harpist has two play the same chord in quarter tones and in tempo Allegro and most of them play the chords with a fast roll. If different strings are used like in bisbigliando then I would imagine that the difficulty is the same as in a piano chord tremolo. I would simply avoid it in the lower notes because of the buzzing sound of the string that is struck again while vibrating except if this is something you actually want to have as a sound.